Team is confident that no charges will be laid
EXCLUSIVE | By Danny Weidler
February 29, 2004
The Bulldogs players at the centre of last week's sexual assault allegations yesterday broke their silence to give their own version of events for the first time.
In a remarkably frank series of statements, team members who this week face police interrogation and DNA tests at the hands of a special strike force, admitted there were wild parties and group sex during their stay at Coffs Harbour.
But they insisted it was consensual, and that no serious charges would be laid once police had completed their inquires.
The players spoke to The Sun-Herald after a week under siege. Sensational headlines and sordid allegations over what took place at the Coffs Harbour Pacific Bay Resort last weekend have followed them for seven days.
It has made some members of the Bulldogs 25-man squad angry enough to speak out despite the fact that it would put them in breach of club rules.
This week, Strike Force McGuigon will videotape interviews with a group of Bulldogs players, and take DNA swabs for testing.
But The Sun-Herald can reveal that the team members maintain they are confident the tests will show that their version of what happened between them and a 20-year-old Coffs Harbour woman is correct.
The Sun-Herald has tried continuously to seek the story of the woman herself, but she and friends have refused to give interviews.
The Bulldogs players aired their stories at a "truth meeting" last week, during which they were asked to give their version of events in front of each other.
"Unless there are blokes in the team lying to us all, we have nothing to worry about," one player told The Sun-Herald.
After hearing what his players had to say, they pointed out, coach Steve Folkes was prepared to go on air and defend his players.
None of those who spoke to The Sun-Herald was willing to be named.
Their version will shock many readers and, no doubt, provoke an angry reaction from many fans and even the NRL.
But, the players insisted, none of what took place was an offence. Nor was it that unusual in the testosterone-charged world of their game.
They insisted they were keen to give statements to the police about the behaviour of the woman at the centre of the allegations.
The players said the woman first came to the team's attention on the Wednesday night before their game with Canberra last Saturday.
Their version of events was that she had sex with eight Bulldog players on that night at their resort hotel. They said she was encouraging group sex and boasting about it.
"She was pointing to the guys and counting one, two, three, four, five, six and saying she has had more guys than that before," said one player. "She was saying she has made porn before."
Inexplicably, she also told the team members she had breast cancer.
At the end of the night, the players maintained, the woman was put in a cab by the player she first had sex with at the Plantation nightclub in Coffs Harbour. After their victory over Canberra last Saturday, the Canterbury players said, the alleged victim was at the Plantation club and was keen to come back to the team hotel.
It was, they said, around 5am and the woman was trying to get a cab.
They claimed she had a run-in with Bulldog forward Willie Mason after she tried to jump in a cab he was sharing with other players, including Braith Anasta.
"Willie was standing there with Willie Tonga and Bob Cat [Andrew Ryan] and then she tried to jump in his cab and he told her to f---- off," said one player. "He did not know she was the 'bun-chick' [a girl who had engaged in group sex] from the other night.
"She spat at him, told him that footballers were no good. She told the players that she owned the place and she was off to get the bouncers."
When she finally arrived at the Pacific Bay Resort, she had consensual sex with one player in his room, the players said.
Later, she was being escorted to a cab when she spotted a girlfriend and other players at the hotel pool.
She elected to stay.
Around 7am, one hour before the team was due to gather for an 8am recovery session, she climbed in the pool herself and was trying to lure team members in with her, the players said.
She was naked, they claimed, and saying: "C'mon boys, are you scared to show your bodies to me?"
One said: "Two blokes were walking past and she was asking them to come into the pool and f--- her.
"They said they just ignored her and went back to their rooms. She was saying, "Come and get in the pool" as she was getting her clothes off.
"Earlier on she was knocking on all the blokes' doors trying to get in but they were asleep. They really did not want anything to do with her because they thought she was a scrag."
Another player said: "Everyone told her to go away and wanted nothing to do with her. I don't know what happened to make her so hysterical.
"When we talked as a team only one bloke said he had sex with her that morning. Maybe she had a reality check and realised the position she was in."
The player insisted: "Don't think she was an innocent player in all this. After the Wednesday night she gave her number to one of the boys and said, 'Come around and bring the whole team around.' "
One player said it was just a typical night for some of the Canterbury players.
"Some of the boys love a 'bun'," one said. "Gang banging is nothing new for our club or the rugby league."
This story was found at:
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/02/28/1077677016584.html
